Everything about the US government shutdown is about people – of course. It is people who caused it: a disagreement in government over the federal budget because the Repiblicans have linked Obamacare to the budget. They don’t like it and Obama and the democrats don’t want to negotiate about it.
800,000 public servants will be off work without pay until the warring parties agree. For a while things will be OK. We expect an agreement to be reached before the consequences are really serious.
This sort if impasse at federal government level interests people in Europe. It concerns people in Europe. It also concerns me that all family members might be affected, which includes the family cat.
Everything that people do that affects people also affects cats. It is a second tier responsibility that gets overlooked.
There is a worry that many governments, on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, are unable to manage effectively. This slightly chaotic state of affairs impacts our lives and the lives of tens of millions of domestic cats.
There is an erosion in the credibility of politicians. People don’t believe in politicians anymore. They are all the same. Nothing really changes. They are career politicians; in it for themselves. That is what a lot of people believe.
I would expect many people in Europe and America to be disillusioned with politicians who can’t even come to an agreement over a budget, which should be a routine matter.
The British government is not much better, often paralysed because it is a coalition of two parties with quite different objectives.
I just want to state that irresponsible government affects cats as well as people. They should not be forgotten.
The shutdown has such a negative impact for people, babies, and animals. It was just reported that 45% of our FDA has gone on “furlough”. This, primarily, affected the individuals who inspect incoming products. CHINA! CHINA! YIKES! They have already tainted our baby formulas and pet foods in the past, killing many. Now, they have a free pass! WHY DO WE KEEP TRADING WITH THESE PEOPLE? Because we have a huge debt with them. It seems they are just trying to kill us off and our animals.
Excellent point, Dee. I could rant away about China until Christmas. PoC has discussed Chinese products before.
This is one example written years ago:
https://pictures-of-cats.org/melamine-in-cat-food.html
I don’t respect politicians because they are career politicians. Their first priority is themselves. China is full of corrupted behavior that affect people. They produce cat fur products (the world’s biggest by far) by the millions. They are known for human rights abuses etc..
America should stop trading with China. China is a problem because they feed retail therapy but Americans and Europeans are addicted to cheap products made in China.
I remember that article. Wonder why I didn’t comment…
Probably too busy studying the HUGE recall list and helping my friend with her poisoned cat.
I no longer buy anything made in China. I don’t trust them.
I don’t believe the melamine was a mistake. It was intentionally added to give the products weight and create the illusion of higher protein content.
And, their cat fur business… I can’t come up with any DECENT language to express my feelings…
Funny, I don’t see them skinning their beloved pandas!
The repungnanticans should get their extra cash from the military industrial monster.
With tens of billions going to the NSA alone why the hell can’t they give some of that for other things and keep obamacare.
Persoanlly I think obamacare is a good thing. I live in a country where that system works very well. It doesn’t matter who you are you get top of the line medical care. I have never seen such good care and I pay 350 bucks a month – just like everybody else, for basic all round medical care. Employers have to factor in the costs. It might be tricky making the changeover but in the end its a much more humane system – its not a system designed only for people can earn enough to pay for decent medical care. In Switzerland there is not one person who doesn’t get top notch care. There are plenty of people who for various reasons might lose a job or not be able to work or whatever and they would be f**ked without this socially equal system.
Why can’t they defund their ridiculous army just a fraction. The fact that the very people who run the country are bickering over something to the point of shutdown spells ridicule and the fact that as politicians they can’t even do their job. The fact that the repugnanticans are generally such warmongering ass holes and will flog a dead horse until the government shuts down is laughable.
WHY does nobody talk about taking the money from the MILITARY? I tell you – the US military is the single most evil force in this world right now – mainly because its so powerful the people who run it can use it to do whatever bad thing they want.
By the way – the cyrillic lettering on the sarin gas missiles as recorded by the UN were sent to Libya some 40 years ago – the Russians still have the export papers. What does this mean? This means that it’s very highly possible that the CIA gave the Syrian rebels these weapons and it was they who used them. The CIA was moving weapons from Libya to the rebels in Syria for some time about a year ago. If it wasn’t the CIA then it was just extremists and mercinaries who got hold of them after Libya collapsed due to yet another western intervention.
So when I look at the likes of those slobs like Kerry standing there so sure of who did it that they don’t even allege – they simply state it, I think we live in a world run by total assholes with nefarious agendas.
Maenwhile this shutdown is just another home goal for exceptionalism – such enormous disagreement that its childish the echelons of power are a mess. The empire is a mess.
What works in Switzerland will not work here, Marc, because just over 50% of our population now does not work, but takes benefits from the other half. And the balance is tipping more and more the other way. We just don’t have enough productive people.
There are companies hiring all over the place, so people could work. But the wages are so laughably low– you really can’t live on ten dollars an hour and a lot of places don’t pay that much. So people just stay on unemployment as long as they can and get on food stamps and other government hand out programs because even if they are working they aren’t making enough. A lot just refuse to work in favor of welfare. And why not? Working doesn’t pay anymore– you can be a lot better off taking the government hand outs. Except that there’s hardly anybody left working to pay for them.
If everybody really did their best to be productive socialism would work. And to Switzerland’s credit it does work.
Wisconsin had awesome programs for the poor to get healthcare– Badger Care was one of them. But we’re being forced to go into this national program. Things were fine in this state before.
It is not the government’s problem if a few able bodied people chose not to buy health insurance and then got into a problem. The government cannot solve all our problems. I’d rather be poor but free. Most people would rather be taken care of and give up freedoms.
This is a major problem in the UK as well as you probably know. The government here is forcing long-term unemployed to work on community projects or they won’t get their benefit payments.
I work at a school in the middle of the worst part of town– high crime, poverty– the kids call it “the hood.”
It may seem like a good thing that the government gives checks to help poor mothers. In reality, we now have a situation where almost no kids have fathers around. If the mom married the dad they would be making too much money to get the government check. Some moms have more kids to get more money. My aunt works in healthcare and describes 18 year old kids coming in for a fertility work up because, and the girls admit this, if they can’t get pregnant they won’t get checks.
One of the school’s administrators works in social work and she told us about some children who, until her agency intervened, had never slept in a bed. They were duct taped to a chair every night. She asked, “Why have kids if you don’t even want them?” I think we know the answer to that.
Children born to single mothers just so she can get a welfare check come to school with no training in manners, social norms or right from wrong. They are used to only getting attention from adults when they are being “bad” so they misbehave a lot in school unless the teacher consistently praises good behavior and ignores unwanted behavior. The kids need so much love and kindness– they need to be noticed, to feel important. At home they are just ignored. Many are abused and seriously neglected.
I’ve been told that in the 1950’s and ’60’s in the same neighborhood families were intact. There was poverty, but you didn’t have these cases of severe child abuse and neglect in such high numbers.
Ruth – I had absolutely no idea it was such a huge percentage of people who choose not to work.
I suppose that can’t work in any country no matter what. I have always thought the cause of alot of problems in the US and Canada where I lived – is because of standard of education. Kids just leave school un-motivated and therefore they don’t see why not just take from the government. I remember when i was living in England I knew alot of people who just took the £32.50 weekly dole money from the system rather than get a job. I never did that. I would never have felt good about myself if I was taking money from the government. But I know alot of people who see absolutely no reason why not. Those are the ones who also have no particular aim in life except have a good time. I’m sure they are all feeling stuck by now! But in Australia it was the same thing – I met alot of squatters living off the dole and quite happy about the fact. It’s the result of a poorly enforced education system. Without education that is competitive then you don’t feel like there’s a point to even trying I think. I do get that but I couldnt take the handouts because I’d feel like an asshole;
Me too, Marc. I could have taken more financial aid from the government to pay for college than I did. If you don’t need it it is wrong to take it.
I know people who won’t take a job if it pays less than their unemployment check, even though they still would get the same money because the government makes up the difference. My friend Melanie always works, even if she can only find part time. She is glad the unemployment check makes up the difference, but to not work if she can find work is unthinkable to her. Some of those part time jobs taught her new skills and have lead to better opportunities. When you sit on the dole you stagnate.
Totslly agree. America spends far too much on the military. Although as a percentage of GDP they are about average.
What if we ran our household budgets the way government handles its finances? Of course, nobody would.
The other day my husband and I were driving home from Sears and talking about the whole Obamacare mess. I don’t know what happened but suddenly Medicare isn’t paying for physical therapy for seniors. I went from being able to work seven days a week in physical therapy if I wanted to to getting about four half days a month. The drop in patients is in subacute rehab. Medicare patients in nursing homes and rehab hospitals were the bulk of those being seen by PT’s and PTA’s. I worry about people being discharged too soon from the hospital and maybe falling at home. Falls are a major killer of the elderly. I also worry that I had to start teaching again and will it be enough money in the long run or too stressful for me?
As I’m pondering all this I see a dog in the back of a car in front of us. He sticks his head out the window for a bit, runs across the back seat and sticks his head out the other window. He’s just bounding around back there and looking so happy as he sticks his head out the windows of the car. I thought, “He’s not worried about healthcare, a job, money, the elderly or the unintended negative effects of generous social programs. He’s just having a good time, just enjoying life in that moment. I envied that dog so much. We all need more times like that.
There is so much that dog does not know, so he can be happy. I know too much about this world to ever be that happy in it again.
Nice but upsetting insight to what Americans are feeling. Thanks Ruth. To an outsider this seems like Republicans employing blackmail tactics to force Obama’s democrats into dropping their healthcare plans. That seems irresponsible to me if the consequence is that almost all Americans (and the world) are made anxious and almost 1 million Americans suffer potential or actual financial loss.
This is a dysfunctional government. America are not alone in having these problems but it is surprising to outsiders. Further, this crisis doesn’t touch upon the need to increase yet again the national debt. The national debt cannot go on being increased indefinitely. There will come a time when it will stop and printing money will stop and the nightmare will start.
If money would stay in the U.S. and help people who are in genuine need instead of trying to support the rest of the world we wouldn’t be in this shape. Millions sent to other countries while children in every city go to bed hungry.
It’s the same here Elisa, ill and disabled people having their benefits stopped, old people freezing, children going short, hard working peoples pensions being stolen by the government, etc etc while millions of £££ is sent abroad.
I’m sorry for people in need in other countries but how do we know the money really goes to those people and it’s never enough anyway.
I was reading in the news the other day about thousands of UK children going to school hungry, how can that be right!
So yes it all does have an impact on cats as our local Rescue Centres are all overflowing and more calls coming every day from people who say they can’t afford to buy cat food or pay vets bills.
The world is in a dreadful state right now and the innocent are the ones suffering, including cats!
This hasn’t happened since 1996 And we weren’t in the straits that we are now.
Joblessness impacts cats so much.
IDIOTS!